Category Archives: lakes

I spent the past weekend camping at Roper Lake, a beautiful state park in the southeastern part of Arizona. The weather was wonderful, sunny and warm – very different from some of the more recent trips I’ve been on.

I was amazed by all the different birds residing there; a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds, redwing blackbirds, cardinals, vermillion flycatchers, black ducks, doves, and others that I didn’t see or couldn’t identify. One evening I walked over to the lake and recorded these wonderful creatures as they began to settle for the evening.The only sound I didn’t capture was the deep “ribbits” of the bullfrogs. They sang all night!

I wanted to share the video here, but the file type is not allowed on WordPress…(unless I upgrade to a paid version.)

But here are some photos I took on the way home. I absolutely love the ocotillos when they are in bloom, and now is the season! I should create a journal of “photos through a dirty windshield”, which is what these were taken through. It seems I take a LOT of photos from the passenger seat!

Greetings from the library in Roswell, New Mexico! Although the cell phone does seem to work at the Bottomless Lakes State Park, the Internet doesn’t! I’m using the library wi-fi for as long as I can today to catch up…

I arrived at the park last Wednesday for the LoW campout. While the ‘leader’ left on Sunday the rest of us (three) have stayed on. One is leaving today, and one is leaving tomorrow. I’m signing up for another week before deciding where to go next.

I went to the Roswell UFO Museum last week and enjoyed a great movie presentation about the flying saucer, with aliens aboard, that crashed about an hour from here. Apparently there was a lot of confusion and government cover-ups related to the crash. Roswell has capitalized on this event from 1947. Everything has UFOs and alien creatures drawn, painted, sculpted on it; even the local McDonald’s building design is suggestive of a flying saucer, and when it is lit up at night it is reminiscent of the photos we’ve all seen of UFOs. And the Roswell Walmart has also joined in with UFO/alien graphics on its facade. Some of the street lights along Main St. have alien ‘eyes’ painted on them!

A friend of mine in Virginia told me he once saw space ships ‘fly’ into the side of a mountain on his parents’ farm. So that makes me think about maybe the Roswell aliens hide out in the Bottomless Lakes! Just kidding…The lakes are interesting because they have been formed from gypsum and rock; the largest lake was formed when a cavern dome collapsed, and became a sink hole. (I may not have the exact scientific explanation, but it’s close…) These formations are like some others that are found in Italy and Mexico.

Another one of the LoW bunch who was already in the park when the rest of us arrived had an accident on her scooter – she ran a red light (not intentionally) and in order to prevent a collision with the auto in the intersection at the time, laid the bike down – on her knee and leg. She was in the hospital the day before we arrived, and is still there, expecting a very long rehabilitation. Her motor home is still in the park, awaiting her instructions…I will be visiting her later today.

The other day I went out on the large lake in a paddle boat – my first experience. Lots of fun. There are very interesting flat and dome-shaped turtles who come to the rocks at the water’s edge to sun themselves. There’s also a nice, sandy beach. Lots of birds here, too. It rained all of the holiday weekend, with the sun coming out the most on Monday. Since then, it’s been sunny with storm-like winds in the afternoon – lots of virga, but no rain. It’s been warm enough to run the AC, too.

I’m considering going for a few days to a place not far from here – a BLM campground called the Valley of Fires – they have hook-ups there, and as long as it’s hot, I plan to use the electric for the AC. Then I’ll head to another one of the state parks. I’m planning my stays at the different parks to get into whatever park with enough lead time to already have a space for July 4th and Labor Day weekends, as there is a 21-day limit. I’ve been getting a lot of helpful information from the LoWs I’ve been with – all women, I might add, and older than I am, too.

I guess that just about sums up the last couple of weeks. Don’t know when I’ll make the next installment. I still need to write about my camping trip in the Gila Wilderness – LOTs to say about that!!!